Superman's Dead?
by Booksaboutnothing
Summary: Clark sacrificed himself to defeat Zod. But someone thinks the world still needs a superman and enlists Zatanna to help create another one. But is Clark actually dead and who is his replacement?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Zatanna Zatara blinked at the blinding light as the hood was removed from her head. She looked around at her kidnappers but whoever they were, their faces were obscured by the blinding bright light behind them. They left the room through the only door which Zatanna heard lock behind them. She looked around at her surroundings. She was bound to a chair and there was a table behind her with something on it, but she couldn't tell what since she couldn't turn around. She also noticed a video camera mounted on the wall above the door looking at her.

"What do you want from me?" She demanded angrily at the camera.

"Your co-operation," a heavily distorted voice replied.

"Well it would have been easier if you had just asked," Zatanna remarked. "That's a better way to get someone's co-operation."

Whoever was speaking to her ignored her remark, "We require your magical skills for a very important matter."

"Everyone needs my magical skills for something 'very important', what makes your matter so special?" Zatanna said snidely.

"The one you know as Clark Kent is no longer with us," the voice replied.

"Well I can't raise the dead," Zatanna said. "Not without severe consequences."

"We don't expect you to disrupt the nature of things, we wish you to help create his replacement," the voice stated.

"What?" Zatanna said completely surprised.

"If you agree to co-operate we will release your bonds and explain," the voice said.

Zatanna considered the offer for moment, "I'm willing to at least hear what you want," Zatanna said. "But I make no promises that I will be able to fulfill your request."

The voice said nothing and Zatanna thought that perhaps her response had been taken as a rejection, but after an awkward long pause, the manacles around her wrists popped open. Zatanna rubbed her wrists as she stood up and to look at what was on the table. On the table sat a red and blue outfit made of a material that Zatanna thought looked similar to spandex. It had a white cape with a hood and some strange yellow items attached along the arms and legs. A tiny vial sat on the table beside it as well. Zatanna picked it up and looked inside, a red liquid sloshed around that Zatanna was sure was blood.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" Zatanna asked.

"That vial of blood is alien in origin," the voice said.

"Clark was an alien?" Zatanna asked.

Once again the voice ignored her and continued, "What we want you to do is grant the wearer of that suit the powers that a being with that blood would have. Can you do this?"

Zatanna went over the various spells she knew in her head and then looked back at the camera.

"Who is going to wear this suit?" Zatanna asked. "The powers that it will grant…"

"We have a suitable candidate," the voice interrupted. "Now can you do it."

Zatanna nodded slowly, "I can do it." She replied.

Yes Clark is dead, but he may not remain that way. The question is who's trying to replace Clark and who is his replacement? Some very interesting questions. Please review with your opinions. This is mostly a sampler to see if people will read it.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"I don't understand," Lois said. "Why would Clark just up and leave? Smallville has always been his home."

Chloe and her cousin were in the apartment over top of the coffee shop. Chloe had a suspicion that Lois knew that Clark was the Blur, but didn't want to bring it up.

Chloe knew that Clark had died after stabbing himself with a blue kryptonite knife to have Zod transported off of Earth. She had arranged to have his body transported to his fortress in the arctic. Unfortunately she didn't have enough knowledge of the fortress' workings to revive Clark so she left his body there in stasis while she tried to figure it out. Unfortunately she was pre-occupied with her duties as Watch Tower.

Two new factions had recently appeared, both with unknown goals and leaders, but both seemingly had ties to old parts of Luthor Corp, which Oliver thought he had gotten rid of. What their goals were, Chloe wasn't sure.

"I wish I knew," Chloe lied to her cousin.

"And what about that new red-white and blue blur?" Lois asked. "I mean that's just tasteless."

Clark had said good-bye to Lois as the Blur and there had been unconfirmed reports about his disappearance. However Chloe had not heard about a red-white and blue blur. There were no Kryptonians left on Earth, unless Kara had returned, and it wasn't any member of the League.

"Red White and Blue blur?" Chloe asked. "That sounds like someone being a little patriotic."

"Yeah if you think break and enter is patriotic," Lois said. "There are reports of this Blur breaking into several places across metropolis. Unfortunately I can't find any connection between them."

Chloe frowned, she was really off her game if something like this somehow was able to slip by her. Thank goodness for Lois.

"Do you want any help looking into it?" Chloe asked hoping she could figure this out and hopefully keep Lois out of trouble, know that her cousin had a nose for such things.

"No, I can figure this one out on my own," Lois replied. "The Blur would have wanted it that way."

Chloe sighed and shook her head. She was getting a bit worried for Lois. It seemed as if she was making up fantasies in her mind where the Blur was still talking to her. However Chloe decided she would give her cousin a bit more time to try and sort things out before outright intervening.

"Well thanks for the talk Chloe," Lois said getting up. "I've got to get to work."

Before Chloe could say anything else her cousin was out the door and gone.

At the Daily Planet Lois was going over the information about the various break-ins at her desk trying to find a pattern or connection that would tell her who the thief was, what they were after or perhaps where they would strike next. Out of the corner of her eye she saw someone sit down at the desk across from her.

"Clark?" She asked looking up hopefully.

It wasn't Clark and the young woman looked at Lois like she was crazy.

"Sorry," Lois apologized. "That used to be my old partner's desk."

The woman just nodded and got up and went to the editor's office, probably to ask to move to another desk, Lois thought to herself.

Looking back at her work something suddenly clicked.

"I know where they're going next," Lois muttered to herself.

Gathering up her jacket she raced out of the office.

"Why do you want to follow Lois?" Oliver asked Chloe over their radio connection.

"Because she's bound to get herself in trouble," Chloe replied. "She's determined to track down this new blur and we don't know who this is."

"Don't we have better things to worry about?" Oliver asked.

"This person may be tied into the current problems we've got," Chloe replied

"Fine," Oliver said. "Look like she's going to a place called S.T.A.R. Labs."

"Wait, S.T.A.R. labs?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah," Oliver responded.

"Be careful," Chloe warned. "I think they might be related to those factions we've been dealing with."

"Alright," Oliver said. "I'm going to move…"

The feed from Oliver suddenly went dead.

"Oliver! OLIVER!" Chloe yelled. But there was no response.

Outside S.T.A.R. labs a woman wearing a red and blue spandex outfit with a white hood cape that had a white S symbol on the chest stood over top of a motionless Oliver, dressed up as Green Arrow.

"The goings on here don't concern you," the woman said as she pulled the little ear piece out of his ear and crushed it between her fingers with ease, grinding it to powder.

Inside Lois had gotten stuck in a hallway. She had reached a door she could not open and when she went back to the door she had entered the hallway through she had found that it too was now locked. In frustration Lois was trying to find another way out, she had spotted a ventilation shaft up above but wasn't sure how to get up there. Suddenly she heard one of the door open and she spun around.

"Oh thank you," Lois said. "I took a wrong turn and…"

Lois stopped when she saw the person. The woman was wearing a skin tight red and blue full body suit complete with a blue mask. The only feature Lois could make out was the woman's piercing green eyes which were oddly familiar. She also wore a white cape with a hood which was currently pulled down.

"You know, you've got a lot of nerve imitating the blur," Lois said.

The woman made no reply and just stood in the door way, staring at Lois as if waiting for Lois to make the first move.

"Not to mention all the breaking and entering that you've been doing," Lois said advancing towards her. "Now if you don't want me to report about you…"

"That's not going to happen," The woman interrupted.

Lois paused where she was, something about this woman's voice was very familiar.

"Just who are you?" Lois asked.

"I could tell you," the woman replied. "But I would have to kill you."

"You don't want to do that," Lois replied. "I'm a very well known reporter."

"I know exactly who you are, Lois Lane," the woman replied. "And I know who would look into your death if I were to kill you, and I don't need that right now."

"Well I'm not going to let you get away whatever it is you came here to do," Lois said.

"You can't stop me," the woman replied.

"What are you some kind of Super Woman?" Lois asked sarcastically.

"Actually, that's exactly what I am," the woman replied.

Before Lois could say anything else there was a gust of wind and the woman was gone. Suddenly an alarm started sounding and Lois turned around to that the other door had been literally ripped off of it's hinges. Panicked Lois ran out of the building.

So anybody who guessed Lois, Chloe or Oliver was wrong. Nice try though. I don't plan on keeping the identity of Superwoman secret for too long, it will be revealed in the next chapter or two, or three at the most. Please review and give all the speculation on who Superwoman may be that you would like. I like to see just what people are guessing and if I'm leading them on or not.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A few blocks away Lois finally stopped running and pulled out her cell phone and hit speed-dial. She had meant to call in to the Daily Planet but she ended up calling her cousin.

"Lois?" Chloe answered. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry Chloe, I was actually, you know what, you're not going to believe what just happened," Lois rambled.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there Lois," Chloe said. "Catch your breath, and then try me."

Lois took a couple of deep breaths before continuing.

"I just met the new blur," Lois replied.

"Who is he?" Chloe asked.

"You mean, who is _she_?" Lois corrected.

"She?" Chloe exclaimed in surprise, the small hope that Clark had been revived faded away quickly. "Well then who is she?"

"Well that's just it, I have no idea," Lois said excitedly.

"Okay… so then why do you sound so excited about it?" Chloe asked a little confused by her cousin's enthusiasm.

"Well she was wearing a mask," Lois said. "But something about her eyes and voice were familiar. Like perhaps I had met her before. She called herself Superwoman. Anyway I got all up in her face but before I could get all medieval on her, whoosh she was gone."

"Gone?" Chloe asked.

"Disappeared in the blink of an eye," Lois replied. "Just like the Blur. She ripped a door right off its hinges in the process."

"Sounds exactly like the Blur," Chloe mumbled her mind quickly thinking to Oliver and what had happened to him.

"Anyway I've got to report in," Lois said. "This is going to make an interesting story."

"Yeah, I've got to meet up with Oliver," Chloe said. "Talk to you later."

After hanging up with Lois, Chloe quickly grabbed her coat and headed to where she had last heard from Oliver. She found him passed out on the roof a building across from S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Oliver! Oliver!" Chloe yelled shaking him to get him to wake up.

"Ugh, what the heck hit me," Oliver groaned.

"According to Lois, someone called Superwoman." Chloe replied.

"So this new blur is a chick?" Oliver asked.

"This _chick_ also just knocked you," Chloe replied.

"So Lois saw her?" Oliver asked. "Does she know who it is?"

"No," Chloe replied. "Apparently she was wearing a mask, but Lois felt like she had met her before."

Oliver propped himself up and took off his sunglasses.

"Did she say who she thought it was?" Oliver asked.

"No," Chloe replied. "I was just talking to her on the phone."

"Could it be Kara?" Oliver asked.

"It's possible," Chloe said. "But why would she be running around wearing a mask? And why wouldn't she check in with us first to ask about Clark?"

"Yeah that doesn't seem likely," Oliver agreed. "But we shouldn't rule it out. But knowing Lois she's probably got an idea as to who it really is, one of us should keep an eye on her."

"And of course that one of us is going to fall to me," Chloe said.

"I'll help once this head-ache goes away," Oliver stated.

"I'll hold you to that," Chloe said. "Anyway, I mean there's no guarantee who ever this is, is Kryptonian. I mean there's always the chance that someone duplicated Prometheus."

"Wasn't Lana pretty thorough about destroying everything connected with that?" Oliver asked. "And Lex is dead…"

"I know, I know," Chloe interrupted. "There's just way to many possibilities. I'm going to go to fortress and see if it can tell me of any Kryptonians on earth."

"Also to check on Clark's body," Oliver said. "Come on, it's not like I can't tell."

Chloe sighed. "I always knew we relied really heavily on him," Chloe said. "I just didn't know how much. I mean I feel like I took what he did for granted. Anyway, let's get you home."

Chloe shivered as she looked around the Fortress. It was freezing cold, colder than it had been any other time she had been there. Chloe assumed it was because the fortress was 'dead'. Without Clark around to use it, it seemed to have gone into some sort of standby mode. Chloe looked at a nearby pedestal and was filled with mixed emotions to see Clark lying there. He was surrounded by a strange blue hazy field. Chloe walked over and looked at Clark's motionless body. He was incredibly pale, looking as if he had died of hypothermia. The wound in his abdomen was still visible. His face had a strange peaceful look on it.

"Clark… if only you were still with us," Chloe said, mostly to herself. "It's that old saying, you don't know what you've got till it's gone. We relied on you heavily on you we really did rely on you. Probably to much."

"What is it you want Chloe Sullivan," the voice of Jor-El asked.

Chloe looked around in surprise. In all of her times coming here Jor-El had never talked to her.

"Why are you talking to me now?" Chloe asked.

"I sense you are here for assistance with protecting the world," Jor-El replied. "Unlike all your previous visits."

"So you're willing to help me save the world, but not your own son?" Chloe asked angrily.

"There is nothing I can do for my son," Jor-El replied. "But perhaps I can help you save the world."

Chloe sighed, "We had another super-powered being appear, we're not sure but we suspect she might be Kryptonian. We were hoping you would be able to help if she was."

"There are no Kryptonians on Earth," Jor-El replied. "Whoever this person is they are of this planet."

"You're sure about that?" Chloe asked.

"Yes," Jor-El answered curtly.

Chloe shivered, the cold was starting to become unbearable.

"Alright, well thanks for you help," Chloe said.

"You are welcome, Chloe Sullivan," Jor-El responded as Chloe teleported out.

Lois sat at her desk starting at the article on her screen. As badly as she wanted to give it to her editor she couldn't, she didn't have any proof to back it up.

"Just who are you working for?" Lois muttered to herself. "And what are you trying to accomplish."

"Working hard Lane?" Someone called out across the office.

"Not hard enough," Lois muttered. "I need some proof before I can publish this story."

Everyone else was leaving but Lois remained behind, staring at her computer screen, trying to figure out how she could get the proof she needed to print her article. Suddenly it hit her. Grabbing her jacket, a box from inside her desk and a camera this time, Lois once more raced out of the Daily Planet.

"Lois is on the move," Oliver said as Chloe entered watch tower.

"I feel kind of bad having to plant a track on my own cousin," Chloe said. "But it's for her own good. I don't think she knows what kind of trouble she's getting herself into."

"Where is she going?" Oliver asked watching the blip that represented Lois move on the screen.

"It looks like she's heading back towards Smallville." Chloe remarked.

"Yeah, but why?" Oliver asked.

Why is Lois going back to Smallville? Probably because that's where she thinks whoever is Superwoman is. Will the secret be revealed in the next chapter? Almost definitely, it's going to be good. Stick this story on your alert list so you can read what happens next.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The Luthor mansion lay dormant, all of its previous occupants deceased. Inside all of the furniture was covered with white sheets and a thick layer of dust covered the floor.

Outside a silver convertible stopped outside the entrance and Lois Lane climbed out and entered the building.

"I sure hope your intuition is right Lane," Lois muttered to herself looking around at the seemingly abandoned building.

Quietly she made her way into the office and was rewarded by the sight of seeing someone wearing a white hooded cape standing in front of the sheet covered desk seemingly staring at the dust covered stained glass windows.

"You probably shouldn't have come here alone Lane," Superwoman said turning around to face Lois.

Lois was caught off guard, she was certain that she had been quiet enough to sneak in unnoticed and the surprise of being discovered must have shown on her face because underneath her mask Superwoman smiled.

"I've known you were here since you closed your car door," Superwoman said. "Super hearing."

"What am I supposed to be impressed?" Lois asked contemptuously.

"No, but you should be concerned," Superwoman replied with a smirk.

Lois was worried, but she didn't let it show on her face. Confidently she strode forward into the office coming to a stop about twelve feet away from Superwoman.

"You're not wondering how I knew you were here?" Lois asked, clearly impressed with herself.

"Not particularly," Superwoman replied dismissing Lois' question.

"It's because I know exactly who you are," Lois stated hoping that this would get a reaction.

It did get a reaction, but not the reaction that Lois was hoping for, or expecting.

"Perhaps you do," Superwoman said. "But you have no proof."

"Why do you think I came here," Lois retorted.

"Your chances of getting proof are about as good as your chances of leaving alive if you persist with this," Superwoman said.

To emphasize her point she suddenly appeared behind Lois who spun around in surprise and tried to kick her but only ended up hurting her own leg. Superwoman then grabbed Lois' jacket with one hand and lifted her off the ground with ease.

"Not so confident now are you?" Superwoman asked menacingly with a smile on her face.

Outside Chloe and Oliver pulled to a stop behind Lois' car and quickly got out.

"Why is Lois here?" Oliver wondered aloud. "I mean Tess died and this place has been abandoned since…"

"Which makes this a pretty good place to hide out," Chloe said. "Especially if you don't want people to discover who you are."

"I can think of less creepier place to hide out," Oliver said.

"Come on, Lois has probably already gotten herself into trouble," Chloe said.

The two of them then ran into the house searching for Lois

"I was wondering when you would get here," Superwoman said as Chloe and Oliver entered the office.

"Chloe? Oliver? What are you doing here?" Lois asked despite being the one with her feet dangling a foot off the ground.

"We're here to help you," Chloe replied. "Now, whoever you are, if you would just put my cousin down we can talk this over."

"Unfortunately this has gone beyond talking," Superwoman said. "You can thank Lois for being so stubborn."

Annoyed Chloe pulled out a chrome Beretta 9mm pistol and pointed it at Superwoman.

"I'm only going to ask once," Chloe said. "Put my cousin down."

"Just because you have a gun doesn't put you in charge of this situation," Superwoman responded.

Annoyed Chloe took aim and fired. Lois closed her eyes and winced, but Superwoman stood motionless. There was a clink sound as the bullet fell to the ground, squashed flat as if it had been fired into a solid steel wall.

"As I said, just because you have a gun doesn't put you in charge of the situation," Superwoman repeated with a smile on her face. "Now put that away or you might hurt your cousin."

Chloe didn't move but took aim once more.

"I thought you were smarter than that Chloe," Superwoman said.

Before Chloe could do anything else however, Superwoman took a quick breath and then blew outwards. Chloe was thrown backwards by the rush of wind slamming hard into a bookcase.

"Alright, I don't know who you are," Oliver said stepping forward. "But I've had just about enough of all of this."

Oliver pulled out a blade, but it wasn't just any blade. This one was made of blue kryptonite, and it was the same blade that had killed his friend Clark. He threw it at Superwoman but it just struck her shoulder and feel to the floor having no effect.

Superwoman dropped Lois to the ground none to gently and in the blink of an eye had her hand around Oliver's throat.

"That was a very bad move," Superwoman growled.

"Oh no, I think it was perfect," Oliver managed to choke out.

Before Superwoman could react Oliver grabbed her mask and ripped it off of her head. He was not at all surprised by the red hair that spilled out nor the angry face that it framed. She switched her grip so she was holding Oliver by his shirt and not his throat.

"I thought you were dead Mercy," Oliver said.

"You could be in a second," Tess spat back angrily.

"Tell me, why were you keeping you identity a secret?" Oliver asked.

"This coming from you?" Tess asked rhetorically with surprise. "You're the one that hides behind the identity of Green Arrow. You should already know why."

"Well it wouldn't be good for the stock price if shareholders found out I was running around as a vigilante," Oliver said. "So call if professional curiosity, what's your reason since you don't answer to the shareholders anymore."

"Being thought dead has its use," Tess replied.

"So then perhaps you'll answer this question, how are you alive?" Oliver asked.

"All I know is that I woke up wearing this suit and had these powers," Tess replied.

"You're not telling the whole truth," Oliver said. "I know you're up to something."

"If you know what's good for you, you'll drop it Oliver," Tess warned him.

Oliver shrugged, "So the suit gives you the powers?" He asked.

"It seems that way," Tess answered.

"Then allow me to remove it!" Lois yelled from behind.

Tess whirled around to see Lois holding the blue kryptonite blade. Despite her superhuman reaction time she was unable to stop Lois from plunging the knife in between her breasts and slashing a huge tear down the middle of the suit. Tess screamed in pain despite not actually being wounded by the attack. Unrelenting Lois continued to tear and slice at the suit leaving Tess in tatters and screaming in agony for some reason. Oliver grabbed Lois and tackled her away from Tess.

"Why did you stop me Oliver?" Lois demanded angrily.

"You're hurting her," Oliver replied.

They both looked back at Tess who was on the ground screeching horribly and rolling around as if her whole body was on fire. They both noticed that her body and suit were glowing purple and it was getting brighter.

"That can't be good," Oliver said.

"Get away from me!" Tess screamed at them.

"Tess can't we do anything to help?" Lois asked in a panic stricken voice.

"No… you've… killed… me…" Tess barely managed to get out.

Her body started distorting and stretching in strange manners, her limbs bending to impossible angles, her eyes bulging.

"Oh crap…" Lois muttered.

Oliver grabbed an unconscious Chloe and picked her up, "Come on Lois, let's get out of here," he said.

"But, Tess needs…" Lois started to say.

"She said get away!" Oliver yelled.

Lois followed after Oliver as they ran out of the office, as soon as they were out of the door there was a purple explosion behind them and they all were knocked to the floor and knocked unconscious. Oliver was the first to awaken. When he looked back into the office all that remained of Tess Mercer was a few scraps of her suit.

So Tess was the one behind the mask, don't know if that was much of a surprise, but the fact that as soon as she was revealed she's suddenly dead? That might be a bit of a surprise. Will Zatanna be brought back to make another suit? Or has Tess' mysterious benefactor given up. All this and more in the next exciting chapter.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Ugh, what happened?" Chloe groaned as she came too.

She looked around to see Lois lying unconscious face down on one side and Oliver was sitting on the floor propped up against the hallway wall just outside of the office of the Luthor Mansion.

"Tess, it was Tess," Oliver muttered.

"Okay, I thought so," Chloe said. "Where is she?"

"She… she exploded," Oliver said shaking his head.

"What?" Chloe asked not understanding.

"Lois ripped that costume of hers and she started screaming in pain and glowing purple and then all of a sudden she just exploded or something," Oliver explained. "She's gone."

Chloe turned to look at the office. The sheets had been blown off of all of the furniture in the room in what looked like a blast of era that had come from near the center of the room. And in the center of the room were the tattered remains of the suit Tess had been wearing. Chloe had to admit that was Oliver was telling her actually made some sense on what she saw in the room.

"Did she say how she got the powers?" Chloe asked.

"It had something to do with that suit of hers," Oliver replied.

Suddenly there was a whoosh of rushing air behind them, "Chloe I got here as soon as I…"

Oliver and Chloe looked to see Lana standing there. Chloe had called Lana to help as a last resort, not sure what exactly they would be up against.

"What happened here?" Lana asked.

"Tess Mercer, exploded," Oliver replied.

"Like she had a bomb?" Lana asked.

"More like she was the bomb," Chloe replied. "She had some sort of suit that was granting her powers, but it was ripped and she got overloaded or something and kaboom, no more Tess."

"I think I can better explain what happened." Another voice said.

Everyone looked to see Zatanna.

"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked.

"A spell I cast just catastrophically failed," Zatanna said. "I had to see what had happened."

"Wait, spell?" Oliver asked. "Did you bring Tess back to life?"

"What? No," Zatanna replied. "Why?"

"Because she just exploded," Lana replied.

"Tess Mercer? As in the former head of Luthor Corp?" Zatanna asked a bit confused.

Oliver, Chloe and Lana all nodded.

"But she was dead…" Zatanna said slowly.

"She was," Chloe said. "But someone brought her back gave her some suit that gave her Kryptonian like powers."

"Wait, Tess was given the suit?" Zatanna asked.

"You know about the suit?" Oliver retorted in surprise.

"Well yeah, somebody had me cast a spell on it making it grant Clark's powers to its wearer," Zatanna replied.

"And that somebody gave it to Tess Mercer…" Chloe continued before trailing off.

"I guess the question is, who?" Lana stated.

"I think a better question is, 'Why Tess?'," Oliver said.

"If we knew who, we could probably figure out why," Lana countered.

"If we knew why it would probably lead us to who," Oliver snapped.

"Guys, it doesn't matter," Chloe said. "The point is, Tess is dead."

On the floor Lois began to stir.

"She doesn't need to know about any of this," Chloe whispered. "In fact it's best that she not know. Who knows what trouble she'll cause."

"I've got some other things to discuss with you," Lana said to Chloe. "I'll meet you at watch tower later."

There was a whoosh and poof and Lana and Zatanna were both gone.

Finally Lois stirred.

"Ugh, I feel like I got hit by a ton of bricks," Lois moaned.

"Come on it wasn't that bad," Oliver said helping her to her feet.

"What happened to Tess?" Lois asked.

"She… exploded," Oliver replied. "She gone."

Lois' face seemed to quickly scroll through a range of emotions.

"Good, now we know that we've seen the last of her," Lois said with a sneer.

"Tess wasn't necessarily the best person, but she didn't deserve this," Chloe said. "Nobody deserves to just blow up because their clothes get ripped."

"She was imitating the Blur," Lois snapped. "She got what she deserved."

Both Oliver and Chloe looked at each other with concern, Lois was definitely on the brink of a psychotic break.

"Come on, let's get out here," Oliver said.

Back at Watch Tower, Chloe found both Lana and Zatanna waiting.

"Quite the impressive setup you have here," Zatanna commented. "You can probably do as much magic with computers as I can with, well magic."

"I don't know about that, but thanks," Chloe said. "So Lana what was it that you wanted to discuss?"

"Lex is still alive," Lana said.

Chloe froze where she was, "What?" she asked hoping she hadn't heard correctly.

"Lex is still alive," Lana repeated.

"How is that possible?" Chloe asked.

"Lex had himself cloned," Lana replied. "Remember that I faked my own death with one of the many clones he had."

"So do you think Lex gave that suit to Tess?" Chloe asked.

"I don't think Lex was the one that got me to make the suit," Zatanna said.

"It doesn't really fit into Lex's modus operandi," Lana said. "I mean he's all about trying to gain control. He wants power; he wants to rule the world. Tess, she was a little messed up admittedly, but she wanted to save the world, and I don't think she trusted Lex any more than I do after the way he manipulated her."

"So it still begs the question, who got Zatanna to make the suit," Chloe commented.

"My guess is that someone else knows that Lex is alive and they're doing everything in their power to stop him," Lana said. "And from what it looks like he may have inadvertently played you guys against each other. We should have an ally out there, the enemy of my enemy and all, but don't if they're going to trust us now."

"Well whoever both these sides are they've got surprisingly good tech and they're very good at staying off the grid and undetected." Chloe said. "I don't know if there is anything either of you can do…"

"I can try a clairvoyance spell," Zatanna said. "But we've got so little to go on, it's just a shot in the dark."

"Well a shot in the dark is better than anything else we've got right now," Chloe said.

"I'll check with my sources about Lex," Lana said. "But for all we know there are multiple clones of him out there."

"Alright ladies," Chloe said. "Let's get to work."

Kill off one character, bring back two others. I figured that would make you guys happy. So please review and let me know if it did or if you're angry. Actually let me know anything. I'm always willing to hear your feedback, and I always try to personally reply.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The Luthor Mansion lay dormant, untouched since the most recent intrusion which ended in tragedy. But the peace that had come across the mansion was soon to be disturbed. Two would be thieves had broken into the Mansion.

"Tell me again why we're doing this?" One of the thieves asked the other.

"Because there's rumours that there's a vault that has money in it still," the other thief replied.

"Don't you think that all the safe would have been emptied already?" the first thief asked.

"There's no harm in double checking now is there?" the second thief replied. "Besides there still a ton of other stuff in here, some of it's got to be valuable."

The second thief managed to pop a window open and held it open for his partner.

"Come on, the safe is supposed to be in the office," he said.

Reluctantly the first thief climbed through the window, his partner following behind him.

"Wow, this place is dusty," the second thief commented.

His partner remained silent, too nervous to say anything for fear of being discovered. Quietly they made their way into the office and were confused by the scene that lay before them. The sheets that had covered furniture throughout the house had been blown off the furniture in the office and now lay along the perimeter of the room. The layer of dust on the floor had been blown outward from a central point in the room.

"What the hell happened here?" the first thief asked nervously.

"It looks like something blasted air from this point here," the second thief said walking to the center of the room.

He looked down at the floor and saw a few scraps of cloth. They weren't made from the same material as the sheets and he wasn't sure what they were. He bent down to take a look.

"I think we should go," the first thief said. "Something about this just isn't right."

"Would you shut up," the second thief said. "God you're such a baby."

He bent down and picked up one of the pieces of fabric and turned it over in his palm. Suddenly the fabric seemed to glow a purplish colour.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

Suddenly there was a flash of purple light from the fabric that beamed directly into his face. The first thief turned his head away temporarily blinded by the light. The second thief screamed as he felt as if his skin was on fire. He fell over onto his side and writhed on the ground in pain screaming until his voice gave out on him. Eventually the light faded away completely. The first thief turned back to see what had happened and was horrified to see that where his partner had been previously, now there was only a blackened smoking skeleton.

Not three feet away from the skeleton a red headed woman lay naked on the ground, shivering and when thief listened carefully she was sobbing quietly.

"Where did she come from?" the second thief wondered out loud quietly to himself.

"Are you okay?" He asked the woman as he stepped forward carefully.

The woman turned around on her hands and knees to look at him. Immediately he recognized her.

"Are you… are you Tess Mercer?" the thief asked stutteringly.

Still shivering Tess nodded her head yes, "Please… help me…" she moaned.

"I… uh… what…" the thief stammered not sure what to do.

"Please… the pain… help," Tess pleaded weakly.

The thief stood there dumbfounded and frozen by his confusion. He thought that Tess Mercer had died months ago from burn wounds from a car accident as the newspapers had reported. Suddenly she was here lying on the ground in front of him with the smoking skeleton of his friend beside and was begging for help with pain despite the fact that she looked perfectly healthy.

"Where does it hurt?" the thief finally asked.

"Everywhere!" Tess yelled as she was clearly getting frustrated.

"I don't know what to do," the thief said. "I mean you look fine."

Tess looked at him, her eyes started glowing a fiery red colour. "DO SOMETHING!" She yelled.

Before the thief could do anything though he suddenly burst into flames as a wave off heat blasted from Tess' eyes. Confused Tess collapsed back to the ground and just lay there sobbing hoping that the pain would eventually subside.

Back at Watch Tower Zatanna had just managed to gather all of the materials she needed to cast her clairvoyance spell and was in the process of starting when she abruptly stopped.

"Is something wrong?" Chloe asked.

"Yes, very," Zatanna said. "Something just happened at Luthor Mansion."

"What? How do you know?" Lana asked.

"Because I just sensed my spell reactivate itself," Zatanna said.

"Reactivate itself?" Chloe asked. "It's a spell not a person."

"Well something happened, I know what I sensed," Zatanna said.

"I'll got check it out," Lana said.

"I'll come with you," Zatanna said. "You're still vulnerable to magic, who knows what it was."

Chloe was sceptical, but there wasn't much she could say or do.

"I'll wait here," Chloe said. "Let me know what you find."

Zatanna and Lana arrived at the Luthor mansion to find two corpses lying on the floor. One was just the charred remains of a skeleton. The other one was also burned but only partially and it was still smouldering. The smell of burned flesh was over whelming.

"Oh god!" Zatanna exclaimed. "That's awful. The smell, is just… ugh."

Lana was remained calm, but inwardly she was doing everything she could to stop herself from vomiting in her own mouth from the smell.

"What could have done this," Lana asked trying to breathe through her mouth and remain calm.

"I don't know," Zatanna replied and then she gagged as she tried to stop herself from vomiting.

"Wait I hear something," Lana said holding up her hand.

Lana peered around the room for a while before spotting one of the sheets lying on the ground. It appeared to be wrapped around something and that something was moving ever so slightly. Carefully Lana made her way towards the sheet and pulled it free. Both her and Zatanna were surprised by what they found.

"Tess?" Lana asked.

Tess looked up at Lana and confused expression on her face.

"What happened Tess?" Lana asked.

Tess couldn't say anything, she just pointed at her eyes and then at one of the corpses.

"Did you do that Tess?" Lana asked.

Tess nodded before moaning in pain.

"Something's wrong," Lana said. "We've got to help her. Zatanna can you do anything?"

Zatanna stepped forward a confused look on her face.

"I don't even know how she came back," Zatanna said. "I mean I've got a theory, but she's not coherent right now and until she can answer some questions… let's just get her back to watch tower."

"Okay Tess, we're going to get you help," Lana told Tess softly. "I need you to stay calm. Zatanna call Chloe and tell her I'm coming back with Tess."

Zatanna nodded as Lana picked up Tess and the sheet and carried her out of the room.

Wait, wait, wait I thought I killed Tess off just last chapter, why did I bring her back already? The answer? Well you have to keep reading, oh and submit a review. I'm hoping for an angry "WHY HAS TESS BEEN RESURRECTED TWICE AND CLARK IS STILL DEAD! YOU = WORST SMALLVILLE FANFIC WRITER EVER!" Call me a masochist, but I enjoy that stuff.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Chloe was surprised as Lana appeared carrying Tess, who was wrapped up in a sheet.

"What the heck happened?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know," Lana replied. "We showed up and found her like this and two corpses. She's completely in coherent though, something's wrong."

Lana carried Tess over to the couch and lay her down.

"I think she's in pain," Lana said. "Do you know a doctor who…"

Lana wasn't able to finish because as she tried to pull away Tess spasmed and ended up throwing Lana clear across the room and into the wall.

Lana picked herself out of the wall, fortunately none the worse for wear.

"Are you alright?" Chloe asked a mix of nervousness and confusion on her face.

"I'm fine," Lana replied. "But something's wrong with Tess. So do you know a doctor?"

"I'll call Dr. Hamilton," Chloe said.

Doctor Hamilton arrived a little over an hour later.

"Do you have any idea what hour it is Chloe?" He grumbled as he entered Watch Tower.

"I know it's late," Chloe apologized. "But I wouldn't have called at this late if it wasn't an emergency."

"I know, I know I just get grumpy when I'm tired," Dr. Hamilton apologized. "So you didn't say what the problem was exactly on the phone."

"I don't think that words could explain what I needed help with," Chloe said. "So I thought I'd let you see for yourself."

Chloe gestured towards Tess who was lying on the couch trashing about and sweating profusely.

Dr. Hamilton was quite surprised, "Is… is that…"

"Tess Mercer?" Chloe finished for him. "Yeah, if I'd told you that on the phone you probably would have thought I was crazy."

"Yeah, that's probably true," Dr. Hamilton admitted with a nod. "But I've seen some pretty strange things hanging around with you."

"Well it gets stranger," Lana said coming from another room.

"And this is…" Hamilton asked.

"Lana Lang," Lana said introducing herself.

"Oh, you're the one who started the Isis foundation and are the one who successfully underwent Project Prometheus." Hamilton said. "I'm going to guess that you were the one who found the subject."

"Actually that would be me," Zatanna said as she entered from the same room Lana had been in.

"Zatanna, nice to see you again," the Doctor said.

"Likewise," Zatanna returned.

"So how did you discover her?" Dr. Hamilton asked moving towards Tess.

"Careful," Lana said stopping him. "We found her in the Luthor Mansion along with 2 corpses. Very recently she had been wearing a suit that Zatanna had magically enchanted that granted her Kryptonian-like powers. The suit got ripped and she exploded but something brought her back but it seems like it's still killing her. But whatever it is, she's dangerous. She threw me into that wall."

Doctor Hamilton looked past to see the human shaped hole in the wall.

"Very well," Doctor Hamilton said handing Lana a needle. "Then would you please sedate her so that I can examine her a little more closely."

Lana nodded and took the syringe from Dr. Hamilton, she walked over to Tess and held her arm down. Tess struggled and Lana had a bit of a tough time holding her down as she tried to find a vein. Finally she did and she went to insert the needle but it just snapped off.

"Um, is it possible this was defective?" Lana asked holding up the broken syringe.

"It's possible…" Dr. Hamilton said cautiously as he got another syringe out of his case and filled it with a sedative.

Lana took the syringe and tried again, but once more had the same result.

"Amazing," Dr. Hamilton commented. "Was this happening earlier?"

"Not that we know of," Chloe said. "She had scratched her arm to point of bleeding."

"Interesting, it's as if her physiology is changing," Dr. Hamilton theorized. "Ms. Lang could I trouble you to get me a hair sample from her head?"

It took quite a bit more of Lana's strength than she thought but she was able to easily get a few hairs from Tess' head to give to Dr. Hamilton. Chloe then took him to a compute station where he could examine them.

"What do you think is happening to her?" Lana asked Zatanna as they both looked back and forth from Tess to Chloe and Dr. Hamilton.

"Well I can't say this for certain," Zatanna said. "But it almost appears as if she's becoming…"

"A Kryptonian!" Dr. Hamilton exclaimed. "I thought so. But I wasn't sure. Please come over here and look."

All of them gathered around the desk where Dr. Hamilton had three images up on the screen.

"Okay, on the left here is a sample of Kryptonian DNA from Clark," Dr. Hamilton explained. "In the middle is Tess' DNA from the sample and on the right is a standard human DNA sample, I believe this one is from Oliver."

He pointed at Clark's DNA on the left, "Kryptonian DNA has more pairing, or genomes than human DNA. At first I wasn't sure why since the most of them are very similar to human DNA as you can see by comparing the two."

They all looked back and forth between the two.

"But if you look at Tess' DNA it's has more genomes than Human DNA but a few less than Kryptonian DNA, but watch." Dr. Hamilton activated something on the screen and another genome appeared on the magnified DNA strand.

"Tess' DNA is adding genomes, but here's the strange part." He said.

He isolated the extra genomes from both Clark and Tess' samples. "The ones she's added so far; are absolutely identical to Clark's."

"Well that would actually make some sense," Zatanna said. "I used a sample of Clark's blood to create the enchantment for the suit. I mean it is magic, but assumedly it would manipulate the DNA of the wearer to make them seem Kryptonian."

"That doesn't explain how she came back," Chloe said.

"No but it does explain what's happening to her," Dr. Hamilton said. "Something brought her back, but the residual effects of the spell are causing her DNA to mutate into Kryptonian DNA."

"Is there anything we can do for her?" Lana asked.

"No," Dr. Hamilton shook his head. "I have no idea what to do to treat someone who is undergoing DNA reconstruction, but I imagine it is quite agonizing. Normally I would just try to sedate them but that obviously is not an option that we have available to us."

"Perhaps you could tell me, why you didn't bother to give me any clothes," someone said behind them.

Slowly they all turned around to see Tess standing behind them with only a sheet wrapped around her body.

END SCENE! Ambiguous ending! Will Tess be a good Kryptonian and try to save the world from Lex? Will Tess be evil and try to take it over for herself? Or perhaps something in between, you know kind of anti-hero-ish. And why isn't Lana's Kryptonite absorption ability affecting Tess? All of these questions and more will be answered in the upcoming chapters. But the chapters coming quicker, if I get reviews telling me that people want to read them.


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